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Most people come to London via an airport or major train station. They visit us with eyes wide open and cameras at the ready.I think that tourists love to feel that they have discovered a little bit of London that no-one else has seen, at least not in the last 5 minutes.
So in writing this post, I will attempt to take you to a part of London that I hold very dear to me.
It is a place that I call home of my heart.
I have lived many places, but this would be, as Paul Young once sang, "wherever I lay my hat, that's my home".
Many little villages of old, like Highgate, all grew together to make up the city that we now call London.
To find it, either hop on the Northern Line tube, nicknamed 'the misery line' and black in colour, or just head due north from Centre Point, for about 6 miles.
It's up hill all the way, in fact the top of Highgate is level with the top of St. Paul's Cathedral (apparently).
Highgate is one of those wonderful areas in London that still retains its village feel. The high street still feels traditional, no mass market shops, just little boutiques, some of which have been there for centuries.
It is also a village filled with pubs. As a teenager, I was told that it had 26 public houses within a one-mile square radius - not sure how true that is, so if you find out, let me know.
Apart from it's quaintness, it's Public schools and many pubs, the one thing that seems to attract the most visitors is it's cemetery.
Highgate Cemetery is filled to it's brim with amazing people, Karl Marx and Sir Ralph Richardson to name but two of it's residents. It's West Cemetery was opened in 1839, with the newer East Cemetery opening in 1854. The old part is fascinating, as it has the Egyptian Avenue and the Lebanon Circle.
It also has catacombs. Or should I say.....The Catacombs.
When I was a rebellious teenager, I was persuaded by so-called friends to climb over the walls with them one Halloween.
Oh what a fool I was back then.
A very scared fool.
There was probably about 8 of us and we crept through the dark, dank night, close to midnight, down into the catacombs.
Things whispered, rattled, little creatures ran through the undergrowth, eerie sounds echoed through the night.
This was not fun.
Something made us all jump and scream and with that, we all scarpered as fast as our legs could carry us.
I am definitely not recommending that as a tourist you attempt this, but a day-time visit with one of the very friendly tour-guides is a must for any happy visitor.
After which, a walk back up Swains Lane to Pond Square, will find you surround by a number of excellent pubs.
One that has still retained it's flavour of old, is The Prince of Wales, which on a Tuesday evening, used have wonderful old jazz bands playing.
North London is a very green part of London and by that I mean that there are a great many trees and open spaces. Highgate ajoins Kenwood and Hampstead Heath, but also has it's own ancient woodland, Queens Woods and Highgate Woods.
It is a beautiful place to be outside.
To stroll up and down the tree lined avenues, gaping at the amazing houses or to stand in awe surrounded by several hundred year old trees, oaks that tower over you. If the weather is being unkind to you, then stop in at one of the many cafes for a warming cup of tea.
It is historical but not lost in time.
Need directions, head north and just follow the slope up hill.
Or to quote C.S. Lewis:
"Onwards and upwards, Narnia and the north".
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